Champagne Tests a New Grape to Cut Spraying

Champagne’s growers are testing a new grape that could soon appear in some of the region’s most closely watched wines, marking a rare shift in an appellation that has long guarded its traditions. The grape, Voltis, is a disease-resistant hybrid that was authorized for use in Champagne at the end of 2022 under France’s VIFA framework, which lets regions experiment with new varieties. The first plantings were approved in 2023, and the first Champagnes that include it in the blend are expected around 2027 or 2028.

The move matters because Champagne has spent decades trying to reduce its reliance on chemical sprays while preserving the character of its wines. Voltis was developed by researchers at INRAE, the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Germany’s Julius Kühn Institute. It was bred to resist downy mildew and powdery mildew, two fungal diseases that are especially difficult in the damp climate of northern France. Growers often respond to those diseases with repeated treatments in the vineyard.

Géraldine Uriel, who heads the Comité Champagne’s plant material and production service and has overseen the variety’s evaluation since trials began in 2010, said Voltis should be seen as one tool among many. She said the goal is to reduce phytosanitary treatments as much as possible, especially in vineyards near homes or on steep slopes where spraying can be more sensitive.

Voltis is not a genetically modified grape. It was created through conventional crossing and backcrossing, including work with American grape species such as Vitis rotundifolia, also known as Muscadine. Through successive breeding steps, it retained about 95% Vitis vinifera genes, which helped make it eligible for use in French appellations.

Growers are already testing how it performs outside the chalk soils where earlier trials took place. At Drappier, one of Champagne’s best-known houses in the Aube, Hugo Drappier planted about 40 Voltis vines in 2023 on Kimmeridgian Jurassic limestone in the Côte des Bar. He said he wanted to see how it behaved in his own vineyard rather than rely only on trials near Épernay. The 2025 harvest produced just one feuillette, about 114 liters, but it gave him useful information. He said there was no disease pressure and strong vigor, with leaves staying green late into the season because the vine had not been affected by downy mildew.

Drappier said the wine showed neutral aromas, which he sees as an advantage rather than a drawback. He said Champagne is not looking for highly aromatic grapes but for varieties that can fit into blends without changing their balance too much.

Anthony Lacroix of Champagne Lacroix in Châtillon-sur-Marne has also planted Voltis, placing it near residential buildings so he can limit fungicide use there. He said the grape addresses a social issue because it allows growers to reduce phytosanitary products around homes.

For organic producers such as Drappier, Voltis may also help reduce copper use. Copper sprays remain one of organic viticulture’s main defenses against mildew, but France has tightened restrictions on them. That has increased pressure on growers to find alternatives.

Under current rules, Champagne growers may plant Voltis on up to 5% of their vineyard area and use up to 10% in any blend. Uriel said those limits are meant to keep changes gradual in a region where vines are planted for more than 40 years at a time. After a 10-year trial period, professionals will decide whether to expand the experiment, keep it at its current level or stop it.

The early response has been cautious but encouraging. Blind tastings in 2023 involving nearly 700 experts found that blends with 5% Voltis were described as rounder, simpler and more ready to drink. So far, 170 parcels have been planted by cooperatives, houses and growers.

Voltis is not the only new grape under review. Two other mildew-resistant varieties, Aurelis and Cérélis, are being tested and could be approved around 2027. A separate Champagne-Burgundy program called CEPINOV is evaluating nearly 400 experimental grapes created by crossing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with disease-resistant varieties for both regions’ terroirs.

At the same time, Champagne has also restored an old grape to its official specifications. Chardonnay rosé, a pink-berried mutation of Chardonnay that has been documented in Champagne since around 1900, had been left out because of a bureaucratic oversight. It was formally reapproved in 2025 after being absent from the rules for years.

For growers like Drappier, though, the larger point is that Champagne changes slowly. Pinot Noir has been grown in the Aube for more than nine centuries, he said, and even now producers are still learning from it. With Voltis, he said, they have to begin somewhere.